Embrace, Entice, Emblaze (51 page)

I didn’t have to wait long, and when the group of five came

over to where we were standing and two of them started hugging

Griffin, I was shocked.

The people, whom I was assuming were Nyla and Rudyard,

looked no older than Griffin. I mean, maybe a year or two, but

there was nothing to it. Their skin was rosy and youthful and they were wearing normal, young- people clothes. Their jeans and T- shirt selections were more “in” than any of Griffin’s, who only occasionally ventured away from his reliable navy- blue button- down shirts.

The three standing behind them were obviously the students.

They all looked about my age. They stood back while the reunions took place. I felt their eyes burning several holes in me. I started fidgeting, unsure where to look, until I felt a hand smoothly brush my back— in one brief touch, support, confidence, and power that could only come from my Grigori partner.

Only
from
Lincoln.

Once the hugging and amusing “You haven’t changed a bit”

comments were finished— I mean, they probably hadn’t seen each

other in decades— Griffin turned to us.

“Lincoln and Violet, this is Nyla and Rudyard.”

We all started to shake hands. I greeted Nyla first. She was

beautiful. She looked a bit Egyptian, with black hair cut short around her face Cleopatra style, bronze skin, and a tall slim figure that made her look strong and athletic, rather than fashionable or 58

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skinny. When I said hello, she lit up with a beautiful, warm smile showing perfect teeth framed by deep currant- colored lips. I liked her instantly.

Rudyard seemed more reserved. He took my hand but didn’t

shake. He smiled briefly out of courtesy and inspected me with

well- mannered eyes. I could see he wasn’t sure of me.

Then I felt a twinge, first at the back of my neck, but then it stretched out like an electric current, both up into my head and down into my body.

I yanked my hand back, but he didn’t let go. It didn’t hurt, but it was really uncomfortable. Something was pushing against my

power from inside— something that wasn’t me.

My eyes, urgent, flickered to Griffin. He seemed to be watching me with interest, not alarm.

Damn
it. They’re doing something to me. Testing me.

I fought off the urge to shudder at the unwelcome intrusion

and instead started trying to put up the barriers around my power, protecting it and myself. It reminded me of when I had done the same thing with Phoenix not so long ago.

It took a lot of concentration, and I lost control a few times and had to start again. I was still tired from the last couple of days, and by the time I was getting command of the situation, I was more

angry than anything else.

Once I had my power protected, I pushed what I realized was

Rudyard’s invasive power out from within me. I didn’t bother with being polite.

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He released my hand and stumbled back a few steps. Nyla had

her arm out to steady him before he even moved. When he looked

up at me, his eyes glistened with wonder and he smiled so widely it almost touched his ears.

“Impressive,” he said with a nod as he looked to Nyla again,

who also gave a small nod. I watched as their hands automatically linked, fingers intertwining delicately as if the grooves between them had been molded to each other over time.

What
the…?

Both Rudyard and Nyla seemed overly interested in some-

thing as their eyes went back and forth between Lincoln and me.

Strangely, it didn’t seem as if they were looking at us as much as the space between us. I was feeling exhausted and increasingly uncomfortable as I shifted my weight from one foot to the other and was on the verge of a toilet excuse when Rudyard just snapped out of it. He gave Griffin a slap on the back, at which point I was free to deliver a death stare to both Griffin and Lincoln, neither of whom had stepped in to help me at any point.

“I’m glad you called us, old friend,” Rudyard said, hoisting a bag onto his shoulder.

Griffin beamed. I was glad he was happy while I was still panting like an idiot.

Lincoln put his arm around me to help me stay upright. I

shrugged him off and shot him a look. He knew better— especially in front of the newbies.

Nyla raised a hand apologetically. “Violet, I am sorry for

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Rudyard’s intrusion into your power base, but sometimes exploring the first impressions between one power and another is the best way to gauge strength. Not always the best icebreaker, mind

you…but efficient in its own way. He did not mean you any harm, and we give you our word: such an intrusion will not happen

again without your consent,” she said softly.

I didn’t say what I wanted to, just made a mental note:
No
way
is
that
consent
ever
coming
from
me, lady!
First impressions had been made on both sides.

Lincoln shook hands with Nyla and Rudyard, and we all said hello to the three students, who up until that point had remained silent.

Probably
part
of
the
“check out her power” sabotage.

There were two guys. Salvatore was an Italian who didn’t seem

to speak much English but looked very kind, with his thick curls of dark brown hair, bushy eyebrows, and broad shoulders. The other guy, Spence, shook hands vigorously, his sandy- blond hair flopping forward over his face and green eyes darting everywhere. They were a nice green, but no match for Lincoln’s. He seemed happy to meet everyone— everyone but me, that is. Lincoln told me I was being paranoid when I whispered as much to him, but I definitely sensed the negative vibe when Spence glared at me.

Great
to
have
new
friends.

The girl’s name was Zoe and she seemed…pissed. She had that

emo look that I don’t really get. I mean, does it mean you’re gothic or emotional? I don’t know. She was tall, though she slouched,

and under her short, spiky brown hair with peroxide tips, her eyes 61

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were heavily rimmed in midnight- blue eyeliner. But the thing

that struck me the most about Zoe was that she was completely

comfortable in her own skin. Standing there in a dark gray, tight T- shirt, black pleated short skirt, and army boots, she didn’t care who had a problem with it. I envied her. All I had seen of her so far consisted of her picking up her bag and slamming it down on the ground again with a huff on a number of occasions. I wondered if she had been dragged along and would rather still be in New York.

She
probably
already
hates
me.

But when we were finally introduced, she explained right off the bat.

“Hi, I’m Zoe. I take it you’ve met my idiot partner, Salvatore.” I looked over at Salvatore, who was standing next to Spence.

Compared to the icy welcome I’d received from Spence, Salvatore seemed positively welcoming.

“He can’t speak English, so don’t even bother talking to him,”

Zoe went on. “Can you believe it? Stuck with the mentally chal-

lenged for like, ever.” She looked at me, genuinely horrified.

Obviously this partnership was very new and
obviously
no one had ever explained to her that, just because someone didn’t speak fluent English, that did not make him mentally challenged.

I stifled a laugh and shook her hand. “I’m sure it’ll get better with time,” I consoled.

She rolled her eyes.

When we left the airport, I remembered that I wanted to see

what else I could sense once we got outside, but in the end, I was just too tired from Rudyard’s games.

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chapter
seven

“In all the chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.”
CaRL JuNG

Steph was waiting for me, pacing near the top of the school steps when I jumped out of the taxi. As soon as I saw her face, I could see something was plaguing her.

“Hey. You didn’t need to wait, you know. I could have met you

in class.”

We turned and walked up the last few steps and into the school

hallway together.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I was hoping you wouldn’t make it, so we

could skip it altogether,” she lied, fll icking her hair at the same time so she could look in the other direction. I stuck to best friend code and didn’t say anything else. “You look like crap, by the way.”
Yep, friends for life!

“No wonder you haven’t managed to wriggle your way into

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and imagine what kind of kids they would produce.” She waved

her hand up and down at me.

“That’s not the reason we aren’t together, Steph.”

She raised her eyebrows. Okay, so she was right to a point. I’d barely brushed my hair this morning, and my school uniform,

which was unflattering enough on its own, had been taken straight off my floor and hadn’t come close to an iron.

“Seriously,” Steph said, giving a deliberate nod. She rummaged

in her bag as we walked toward our first class. “Here.” She passed me her pint- sized makeup bag. I knew from experience that it held absolutely everything a girl could possibly want from a cosmetics standpoint in miniature form. “You’re going to need this.”

“Thanks,” I said sheepishly as we headed into history at a brisk pace. We were only a couple of minutes late, but Mr. Burke had a particularly nasty reputation for locking kids out of the classroom if they were more than five minutes late. You’d think that it would actually encourage kids to do just that and avoid class altogether, but perversely, when threatened with losing the right to the education they usually feel forced into, kids flock.

“Wait for me after class. I wanna hear about the God Squad,”

Steph said.

“God Squad?”

“Yep.”

————

The class turned out to be about as tepid as expected, even worse after I checked my schedule. Today was a double. I was stuck in 64

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there for almost two hours listening to Mr. Burke talking about the greatest villains of all time. He asked the class to shout out names of history’s most notorious betrayers. I had no idea. I just put my head down and tried to take notes to stop myself from falling asleep.

Juggling school, training, hunting, and now these new Grigori— the

“God Squad,” according to Steph, who still couldn’t separate the angel issue from the broader God dilemma— was wreaking havoc on my

downtime. It was starting to feel like there just weren’t enough hours in the day. But I was determined to prove to Griffin that I could manage a normal life and school while still doing my job as a Grigori.

The other option, finishing school at the Grigori training center in New York, sounded like a terrible idea. Even if Lincoln could go with me, I wasn’t prepared to leave Steph behind, or my Dad, and, well, school mattered too. All my art classes were here and I would start my scholarship course in four months. I’d worked really hard to get the spot and I had every intention of making the most of it.

As far as I could see, the art program at the Academy was lacking to almost nonexistent.

“Any more names?” Mr. Burke yelled out particularly loudly in

my direction.

Whoops
. I’d been dozing.

I sat up tall. I’d heard some of the names— Marcus Brutus,

someone Arnold, Bernie Madoff.

“Violet?” Mr. Burke was standing at my desk. He expected me

to answer.
Great.

“Um, well…” Blank.

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“How about a hint, Ms. Eden. Perhaps if I start you off

with…the kiss of…”

“Ah, Judas, sir?” I offered hesitantly, not knowing if the name had already been said.

“Excellent,” he said condescendingly, already walking away and

returning his attention to the rest of the class. “Judas is perhaps the greatest betrayer of all time. Death in a kiss— it doesn’t get much worse than that. Anyone else?”

By the time Steph and I emerged from class, my brain was fried.

Steph, as usual, looked as if she had been revived for the day.